On January 26, the Bulgarian Red Cross and the U.S. Embassy in Bulgaria gave an online press conference themed "Do it for those you love". With this event they launched an information campaign for COVID-19.

The special guests at the meeting were Acad. Hristo Grigorov, Chairman of the Bulgarian Red Cross, as well as H.E. Herro Mustafa, U.S. Ambassador to Bulgaria.

The large-scale program "Activities in response to COVID-19" of the Bulgarian Red Cross is funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and is supported by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

This program is important because it has shown that when we are together, the hand we give to people in need is very strong. It's important because it's reached thousands of people in our country. Nearly 30,000 socially disadvantaged citizens received hygiene products," said Acad. Hristo Grigorov, Chairman of the Bulgarian Red Cross.

"It is a real pleasure to note the partnership between the United States and the Bulgarian Red Cross. This afternoon I will visit the Bulgarian Red Cross in person. I've been in Bulgaria for a year and a few months now. Before I took office, I was prepared for thousands of situations. For a pandemic, however, there was no way to prepare. I think we all understand the importance of strengthening ties between the two countries.

You know I'm here with my two young daughters. Although we are guests of the country, we consider ourselves part of the Bulgarian people," said Herro Mustaha.

In her words, we must stand up and rebuild together in the course of fighting the pandemic.

"I am proud of the people working on the front line. We have already heard that at the early stages of the pandemic, the US government gave USD 500,000 to Bulgaria for the fight against coronavirus. We've been thinking about what else we can do. So we decided to realize an idea for cooperation between the Embassy, the America for Bulgaria Foundation, the Bulgarian Donor Forum and the American Chamber of Commerce in Bulgaria.

We launched the "Unite against COVID-19" campaign. We gave BGN 1 million, which was made available to 112 local organizations to help them overcome the crisis. Then we asked ourselves again what else we could do. That's how we created the "Healing Together" campaign," the U.S. Ambassador to Bulgaria said.

"The fight against coronavirus is the cause of whole society. It's an insidious pandemic, and if we don't stand together, it will crush us. The preventive measures are working. Let's hope it stays that way. The Red Cross is part of the society," said Krassimir Gigov, head of the National Vaccination Headquarters.

 "We have circulated a leaflet with information to all people in our country stressing the fact that before deciding on vaccination, they should consult their GP, contact specialists in the health ministry, regional health inspectorate and BRC," Mr. Acad.Hristo Grigorov said.

Asked how the government would respond to the vaccine delivery delay, head of the national vaccination headquarters Krasimir Gigov said: "Let's not forget that we received vaccines that make up for the previous shortage. By the end of July, we'll have over a million and a half doses. From the following month, immunization was stepped up, as a large amount of vaccines is now available. We'll move upward in the rankings," he added.